Easy Come Easy Gaughin

If you look at any list of the “greatest musical artists of all time”, it’s understandably dominated by familiar names; The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, etc..

That’s all well and good, and those artists are deserving of the praise they receive, but it’s a shame that there’s no room in that rarefied company for current musical artists to push past these giants and establish themselves as “new classics”. The turn of the new century seems to provide just such an opportunity, so I have attempted to establish a list of the greatest recording artists of the 21st century.

I read and collect music reviews from a variety of sources. This gives me an average rating for each of the albums I have assessed. Years ago I developed a technique (it’s a simple enough method that it’s certainly not original to me, but I did develop it independently) to rank artists according to collections of reviews.

That’s essentially the foundation for the list that follows. I have assigned a master rating for artists who have released records since the year 2000. This is based strictly on the quality of recordings, and is not an attempt to classify “best musicians” on the basis of “most talented”. I am absolutely unqualified to judge skill-level for all instruments with the possible exception of guitar and bass, and probably for those too. It’s simply an attempt to rank recording artists on the strengths of their released recordings.

Straight re-releases are not included in this calculation, but expanded re-releases are, which explains the presence of Talking Heads and The Clash, even though those artists are not likely to produce any more new music later in the 21st century. Likewise, discs made up exclusively of previously unreleased material do get treated like “new” discs, which is how Led Zeppelin snuck in (on the strength of the absolutely perfect How the West Was Won live set, which almost universally scored the highest rating possible from multiple reviewers.)

This list is limited to musicians that work within a “pop” framework. Classical and most jazz artists are excluded, not because they deserve less consideration, but mainly because reviewers of those branches of music are generally disdainful of the music I find more personally enjoyable, and jazz artists rarely (and classical artists never) appear in the sites and magazines I frequent. I am not trying to save the world, just reporting on my part of it.

104 The Handsome Family 103 Comets On Fire 102 The Fall 101 Ted
Leo

100 Mission of Burma 99 Nas 98 Saint Etienne 97 Ali Farka Toure
96 Califone 95 The Strokes 94 Mr Lif 93 Destroyer 92 Beulah
91 Constantines

90 The Bad Plus 89 Josh Rouse 88 Steve Earle 87 Matmos 86
Broken Social Scene 85 Akron/Family 84 Queens Of the Stone Age
83 Hood 82 PJ Harvey 81 Animal Collective

80 Magnetic Fields 79 Richard Hawley 78 Damien Jurado 77
Solomon Burke 76 Junior Boys 75 Vince Gill 74 Led Zeppelin 73
Loretta Lynn 72 Xiu Xiu 71 Stephen Malkmus

70 Candi Staton 69 Los Lobos 68 Lightning Bolt 67 TV On the
Radio 66 David Kilgour 65 Built To Spill 64 Hayden 63 M Ward
62 Books 61 Elliott Smith

60 Franz Ferdinand 59 System of a Down 58 Smog 57 The Pernice
Brothers 56 The Roots 55 OOIOO 54 The Clash 53 Cat Power 52
Oneida 51 NERD

50 Bill Frisell 49 Ghostface Killah 48 Nick Cave 47 Bjork 46
Broadcast 45 Elbow 44 The Go-Betweens 43 Wire 42 The Flaming
Lips 41 Kanye West

40 Radiohead 39 Neko Case 38 Lucinda Williams 37 Of Montreal
36 Blood Brothers 35 Talking Heads 34 Joseph Arthur 33 Bonnie
Prince Billy 32 The Decemberists 31 Devandra Banhart

30 The Hold Steady 29 Sigur Ros 28 Boards of Canada 27 Blur
26 Dizzee Rascal 25 Four Tet 24 Missy Elliott 23 Bruce
Springsteen 22 Drive-By Truckers 21 My Morning Jacket

20 Arab Strap 19 Ron Sexsmith 18 Mogwai 17 The Streets 16
Wilco 15 Bob Dylan 14 Low 13 The New Pornographers 12 J Dilla
11 Basement Jaxx

10 Outkast 9 Spoon 8 Sufjan Stevens 7 Iron and Wine 6
Sleater-Kinney 5 The White Stripes 4 Lambchop 3 Super Furry
Animals 2 David Holmes 1 Tom Waits

This entry was posted on December 9, 2006 at 9:31 am and is filed under Lists, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.